Chemical speciation of particulate mercury is important for understanding cycling,
transport and deposition of Hg in the environment. Such information is also im-
portant for understanding the bioavailability of this trace element and, hence, the
toxicity of Hg present in the particulate matter found in the atmosphere. Studies
on speciation of airborne particulate mercury are extremely rare and, furthermore,
the work done so far is based on operational definitions of the chemical species.
A definitive study involving a positive identification of any chemical species in
atmospheric particulate mercury has, to our knowledge, not yet been published.
Hence, information about actual chemical species/forms of mercury existing in
airborne particulate matter is currently not available. Research towards identifying
and quantifying chemical species of mercury in particulate phase samples collected
from ambient air is needed and is being undertaken in our laboratories